SmartLess

"Dave Grohl"

November 29, 2021 1h 1m Episode 72
The pod’s like a house of mud-wrestlers this week when Dave Grohl rolls on through. We learn how to live on corn dogs, we discover there’s another Tracy out there… and we walk away with a BB gun, a Nintendo, and a new tattoo. Welcome to another grungy episode of SmartLess.

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Full Transcript

Hello, friends. Jason here.

We are so excited that SmartList has officially joined the SiriusXM family. We can't wait to announce new surprise guests who we know that you'll love.
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Spaghetti and meatballs. Spaghetti and meatballs, that's pretty good.
What about fusilli? What about fusilli and meatballs? No, but that falls under the same, that's the same category. It's just pasta.
No, I'm talking about, okay, so. I like pepper belly.
No, no, no, let's not get into different kinds of pasta pasta yeah no pasta remember when jason french fries if i could have one single thing it would be french

fries one single thing one single thing for me would be ice cream okay great welcome to smart

Hey, uh... Smart.
Smart.

Bless.

Hey, Will, is that a Spider-Man?

Yeah, he's got a Spider-Man chair.

He's sitting in a Spider-Man chair.

It's Abel's chair because I'm in my new booth and it's not finished.

I love how you blame it on the kids.

Always blame it on the kids.

I'm not blaming it on it. I'm explaining what it it is that's your new booth in your new house yeah um it's not it's not finished i gotta put the the carpet's not in yet and um are you gonna put leather floors in this one too you fucking douchebag no don't be an idiot we're going suede um um you know i i'm not i'm not happy with my uh podcast room set up here uh the couch i'm sitting on is it's it's not comfortable and i feel like can i ask you is your couch from an old house is this just like a leftover it looks like like you're in a room that's full of leftovers like like it's from your college days it is it is right and i you know i'm looking at a call it, in front of me.
Reformer. Reformer.
Yeah, I just feel like it's time to admit that we're going to be doing this for a while and I ought to untemporary my situation. Well, make yourself comfortable.
Why wouldn't you make your get something, a scenario that you're happy to go sit in? Well, also, sitting up straight, Jay. Like, I don't want you to hurt your lower back.
Well, that's my point.

It's impossible to sit up straight in this couch.

And, I mean, should I dress for it, too?

I'm still in my pajamas.

The dressing is fine.

I think it's more, it's the posture, and I think it's making you, it's affecting your mood.

Quite frankly.

You think I have a shitty attitude.

Yeah, it's making you a shitty attitude because all your organs are crunched up. You have to elongate those organs.
Hey, man, let's keep it classy. So let's get on the reformer and I'm going to come over there.
I can be there in about four minutes and I'm going to come over and I'm going to lengthen your organ. With an S.

Or a Z.

Or a Z.

Okay, so, our guest today.

Are you guys ready for one of my great written intros again?

They're so funny, guys.

Now, what happens when you're writing?

Do you write these?

How many gummies in there when you write these?

Well, I don't think I've swallowed them yet,

but I'm still sort of picking them out of my teeth.

Put them in the back of your throat.

So this is the ninth draft.

Okay, this is how good this intro is.

Actually, it's only about six minutes old.

Our guest today is one of the most popular figures in music, comma, worldwide, period.

He started at the young age of 17 in the band we all know and love. Steve Winwood.
Called Scream. He's now in his third band.
He's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is about to be inducted for the second time. Wait, what? He's directed numerous videos and a few documentaries.
He's been on SNL, Saturday Night Live, Tracy, 14 times. He has long dark hair, a great smile, and loves animals, long hikes, and short stories.
He's a Capricorn, and don't I know it, because this fella has the exact same birthday and year as yours truly. Friends, this is Dave Grohl.
Dave. Oh, Dave Grohl.
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Dave Grohl.
Dave Grohl. Ooh, look at that Led Zeppelin book.
I know, they asked for a towel to cover the camera thing. And you dry yourself off with a Led Zeppelin box set? Exactly.
Yeah. Hi, guys.
Hi. Hey, Dave Grohl.
Can that take us right to drumming and my personal favorite, John Bonham? Is he number one for you? Absolutely, no question. Truly.
Number one. No question.
No question. No one close.
Okay, well, now when I say the words Neil Peart to you, what does that do to you? Well, he's Canadian, so it doesn't really count. Yeah, he was in Rush, right? Yeah.
He was the guy from Rush. Don't say he was the guy from Rush.
You're being coy. He was the guy from Rush, by the way.
He was the guy. He was the guy.
Pretty tight second. A drummer like John Bonham, you have to understand that the thing that defines a drummer is their feel, their signature sound.
It's like their fingerprint, right? Every drummer has a different feel. If you have a piece of music and you give it to three different drummers, they'll play it three different ways.

Personally, I think that John Bonham was the greatest drummer, not because of his technical proficiency, which was beyond anyone else.

Not because of his big fat feel, which was better than anyone else, but because he was kind of like, he like teetered on the brink of chaos the entire time. So he could like lay down a big fat groove.
Cashmere, good example. Yeah, sure.
The simplicity. But I mean, listen.
Frankly, frankly, when it comes to warmth, nothing beats cashmere. But I'm sorry, Dave, I've cut you off.
You were about to say that John Bonham had a heavy stick, right? He had a heavy foot. Yes, he was amazing.
But here's the thing. When I was young, I got that 2112 record when I was like about seven or eight years old, right? And I was embarrassed to show it to my friends because of Alex Lifeson's camel toe that he had in that particular kimono on the back.
And I studied that record and I thought it was amazing. But it's, when you listen to Rush, you kind of listen to how he's playing stuff.
But with John Bonham, you're listening because you want to know why he's playing. I was going to joke and say why, but you actually said why, and that's interesting.
A little side note, the boys know I just got back from Canada, and on my way back yesterday, I stopped in at Harvey's for a burger. It's a great Canadian chain.
All right on. Oh, yeah.
So I was in there. I went in in and I had to use the washroom.
Is it over here, the washroom?

And as I'm in there taking a squirt, all I hear is just very, very, very faintly I just hear, The blacksmith and the artist must be the ones who... And I'm like, this...
It's like the national anthem up there. I know.
And I will tell you this. The first time when I was first dating my ex-wife, we went up to meet my folks.
The first morning we were in Toronto, we go to a Starbucks and we're waiting in line. Not a Tim Hortons? Not a Tim Hortons.
It was a Starbucks. And in front of us was Geddy Lee, right in front of us.
And I turned to Amy and I go, every day? Every day up here is just Geddy Lee everywhere. Is that right, eh? Yeah.
Anyway. So now, to close the John Bonham thing, Jason Bonham, a tight second, a bronze, is he in the top five? He's, yes? Well, I do believe in the miracle of DNA.
Yes. And that he inherited a lot of his father's skills.
Like when you listen, we were at a studio not too long ago, a couple of years ago, and he was down the hall recording. And with the door closed, listening to Jason Bonham play, it sounded like a guy from Led Zeppelin play in.
So you're saying the best way to hear Jason Bonham

is to hear him through a closed door.

I mean, that's not a resounding...

He didn't say that.

Not exactly what I said.

No, I know.

I know.

He does, when he plays with a group that plays Zeppelin,

he plays exactly like John did.

It sounds just like his dad.

He doesn't improvise.

It sounds just like his dad.

Listen, this is all great for these other drivers, but I want to get to you, Dave Grohl, because look, I have to say, you're a guitarist now, and you're a lead singer, and you're a frontman, but... He decided to give the drums to Taylor.
He gave the drums to Taylor. Let the baby have it.
But I will say, I mean, Jesus Christ, it's pretty rad. Can we just take a second? Because you don't probably think about this enough.
You're Dave Grohl, drummer from Nirvana. Yeah, that's crazy.
And I want to get into everything that you've done since. But I want to just say that.
You're Dave Grohl from Nirvana. Think about that for a second.
And I want you to enjoy that because that's pretty fucking rad. I bet he's never thought about it before, you stupid ass.
No, I don't think he has, you asshole. But when I was in college, you get this every day of your life.
I've never met you. It's such an honor to meet you.
I think you're amazing. And when I was in college, you know, Nirvana was gigantic.
And you know this, that when, you know, music has a special, it penetrates your soul in a certain way that other things don't. So a lot of people have a relationship with music that brings them back to when they were in a certain point in their life and there's not a lot of things that do that so for me nirvana was just massive right thanks it's just massive sorry but i want to know because you're everybody knows you're such a phenomenal drummer and and guitarist is there an instrument that you've always wanted to play that you've never picked up or learned yet? My first instrument was a trombone, and I realized that that wasn't cool.
And then I really started with guitar. That was my first instrument.
But the one thing I've always wanted to do, which I promised myself I would learn someday, is tap dance. Are you serious? I'm dead serious.
Come over, I'll teach you in two seconds. Oh my God, I have the shoes, but I've just never done it.
I have many pairs. I'm scared to wear them in public.
I have the shoes. And one of these, I figure that I can implement a lot of my drumming skills and my understanding of rhythm into this.
I can't dance, but I think I could do it with my feet, like speed, metal, double kick drum, drumming. I'm going to need both of you to sign a release real quick, and I'm coming over too because I'm going to video the whole thing.
That would be okay. Yeah.
No, Dave's saying no. And we'll both have white claws in our hands.
We'll be tap dancing with white claws. Why not? Now, okay, so Dave, so you knew how to play the drums.
You started with the guitar. But then when you did that first album for Foo Fighters all by yourself, guys, he played every single instrument all by himself.
That I did not know. Is that true, Dave? That whole first album is nothing but him.
And it's stunning. So did that come as a result of you just kind of screw know screwing around or did you go i'm gonna make an album i'm gonna have a band i'm gonna be the only musician and i'm gonna sing and here we go or was it more just sort of like a well let's see if i can kind of do this by myself and if it kind of gets traction so be it well when i was young i figured out how to multi-track with two cassette players like when i was like 10 or 11 years old where you can take one like radio shack cassette player record guitar onto that take that cassette and put it into the home stereo hit play and then put another cassette in the in the cassette play and play drums along to the guitar and then you'd have drums and guitar on one cassette.

So I was writing songs about like...

With a fantastic quality.

I just had a crazy experience when you said,

when I was young,

it reminds me of that lyric in your new song

where you're like,

when I was a young boy,

when I used to have a toy gun.

What is that song?

It's called Waiting on a War.

Waiting on a War,

which I've listened to a lot

because I listen to a lot of UK radio, you guys.

Oh.

Yeah, because I'm kind of cool.

Sure.

And my buddy Johnny Vaughn plays it a lot on his radio station over there. He's a great guy.
Very hilarious guy. Much funnier than these two, Dave.
Yeah. And he plays it a lot and I love that song.
It's such a... Yeah.
Have you guys heard it? No, they haven't. But it's such a great song.
I'm sure they have. Yeah.
It's such a great song. Dave, can I ask you a question? Hang on.
Host of the Year has a question. Go ahead.
Here we go. Everybody's favorite host.
Go ahead. Wait, what's going on? Sean's everybody's favorite.
It's so stupid. We just got some I heart rate.
He definitely talks the least. Dave, Dave, we just got some I heart rate.
How do you do it, Sean? Hold on, I'm talking to Sean. Sean, you and I, come on.
I wait for a sliver of an opening and I jump in there. I'm sorry.
Dave, how do you like your omelets? I don't know. Yeah, there it is.
Go ahead, Sean. Because I've never met you, and I'm truly a big fan, I have to ask you, and I apologize you probably get this a lot.
But when you were in Nirvana, I know, hold for it. I just loved them.
I loved you and I love them so much. When you were in it and you were first like meeting and creating music and recording together, did you all know you had something special? Was there infighting? You're like, this is never going to fucking work out.
What were the dynamics? Well, I joined, I met them through a mutual friend. I was in a band called Scream and we came out on, we toured in a van and we toured America, played Little Clubs and blah, blah, blah.
And we wound up on the West Coast. Our bass player, Skeeter, decided to just go home without telling anyone.
That sounds odd for a guy like Skeeter to just disagree with disagree. I know, imagine.
And it wasn't the first fucking time he'd done it, by the way. He did it in Europe, anyway.
And you think he got his name. Yeah, so...
Get out of here. So we were stuck in a house in Laurel Canyon full of mud wrestlers who worked at the Hollywood Tropicana.
Where in Laurel Canyon was it? It's right next to that house where Rick Rubin records stuff, that, like, mansion. Yes, I know exactly what it is.
It's directly next door to that. And so our guitar player and singer were brothers, and their sister worked at the Hollywood Tropicana.
So we had a place to crash. Anyway, so Skeeter goes home, and then this friend of mine says, hey, you know, Nirvana's looking for a drummer.
And I'd heard their first record, and I loved it. I thought it was great.
So he gave me their number, and I called him up, and they said, actually, we already have a drummer. I was like, cool, okay, well, if you come down to L.A., I'm just living in a house full of mud wrestlers.
And so then they called back that night and said, maybe you should call Kurt. And then I got on the phone with Kurt, and we started talking, and he said, all right, well, if you can come up to Seattle, let's jam.
And so I flew up there, and yeah, within like two minutes of us playing together, it sounded great. Really good.
And when you, sorry, just... No, no, go ahead, Will.
Just to that, like kind of like to Sean's thing, like when you're in that gym recording the video that everybody's seen a million times and you're going nuts. Smells like teen spirit.
Yeah. I don't even need to say it.
Smells like teen spirit. One of the most iconic songs.
Did you know in that moment, you were like, we're doing something pretty fucking rad and different here. No, we were like, this is the most spinal tap moment of our entire career.
Are you serious? Really? Yeah, I mean, because it was like, there was like fire machines and a director with a bullhorn, like more fire, more fire. It was like, it was kind of a little weird.
When they said, okay, you should call Kurt. Was that because you needed to just kind of do like a personality test with him? Or did you guys talk drum theory? Was it like an audition type of phone call? Well, they had seen our band Scream play and I was the guy with the big drums that would beat the shit out of the drums.
And they basically said like, well, if we could get a guy like that, I'm like a disco drummer. I'm a very ACDC, full on, just like...
I love that. And that's what they needed.
And so, and then I just happened to be available. And so when we went up and started playing, also I sang backup vocals, which Kurt was putting on some songs.
And so I could sing that to him. Was there any joy from Kurt? Like, cause every interview, every story, everything I've ever seen is just very heavy and dramatic.
No, this is a popular misconception about Nirvana that it was a total drag. And it wasn't.
You seemed pretty funny, actually.

Kurt was really funny.

He had a really fucked up

sense of humor.

That was great.

It was really, really funny.

And Novoselic, too,

the bass player.

I mean, we were like

the Addams family.

Like, Novoselic is

six, seven and a half.

Right, right.

The unplugged MTV,

you could tell you guys

had a great sort of

fun kind of chemistry.

You could tell things were pretty dry and wry.

Always.

Yeah.

You know, but then there were times that were really difficult

because we basically went from sleeping in a squalid little apartment

eating corn dogs every day to becoming this thing that people now know as Nirvana

in the course of like four weeks or six weeks. We were kids we were like 22 23 years old right so it was really there were times that it got really difficult was that like the middle of 91 when that just first exploded with that so it was september of 91 yeah yeah what was the first thing that you bought that you felt like you know what this is this is really uh irresponsible of me the first thing I did, the first check I got was 400 bucks.

It was the most money I'd ever had in my entire life.

From Nirvana stuff?

Yeah, 400 bucks.

I was like, fuck.

And I went to the Fred Meyer, like Kmart store.

I bought a BB gun, a Nintendo, and I got a fucking tattoo.

And then I was back to the corn dogs.

Like I had nothing.

I fully MC hammered it within like 24 hours. Just fucking dropped the whole thing back to the couch in the corn dogs.
It's good to learn that lesson on the 400 bucks so when the big check comes you go like, all right, I'm not gonna do the BB gun again. This is one of the beautiful things about some rock stars.
Like, you think about someone like Steven Tyler. Oh, my God, that guy's had $10 million and then $10 and then $10 million and then $10.
And I don't know if he's buying BB guns and fucking Nintendos, but it kind of goes like this. But actually when we started making real money, my father, both of my parents were musicians.
My dad was a classically trained flautist and my mother sang in acapella groups and stuff. So we loved music.
Anyway, my dad was also, he was a conservative republican speech writer on capitol hill and a journalist and a campaign manager and my mom was a public school teacher like liberal cool they were very cool but anyway so when we first started making money my dad was like you know this isn't gonna last right and i was like no of course He said, you have to treat every check you make

like it's the last one you're ever going to make.

He scared the fucking shit out of me,

and I still do this.

Everyone I get, I'm like, well, that's it.

I guess I'm fucking out.

Back to Shakey's Pizza.

I'm fucking out.

Right, right.

And we will be right back.

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You, like me, did not finish high school, and that has been one of the things that's sort of driven me to constantly try to stay a few years ahead to make sure I don't run out of employment or, you know, cash or anything. Is there still some part of you that's still sort of like got to stay ahead, got to keep this thing going, or they're going to kick me out any minute? Always me out any minute always yeah i mean when you like so my mother raised my sister and i on like the public school teacher salary so it's like month to month you know what i mean so i sort of realized at an early age that she was working at the school and bloomingdale's and serve pro carpet cleaning i'm like oh shit you have to work your ass off to stay ahead stay ahead of it, to have food.
Is that Virginia where you grew up? Yeah, just outside of D.C., yeah. Let me ask you this.
What were the bands that you were, like right when you were getting to, I know you talked about Zeppelin and I know we all appreciate, I love those bands. And I have an eclectic, like people say, I'm like, I'm not a deadhead, but I've seen the dead like 11 times.
But I'm not a deadhead. I think that makes you a deadhead.
No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't.
No, I'm pretty sure. I once saw in the same...
Were you like spinning and taping and doing the whole... No, no, no.
He's a fish fan. Do you have a tie-dye in the closet? Don't fucking lie.
I was selling devil's sticks out of the back. I actually...
Have you ever worn tie-dye short? I mean, socks. That's a big one.
No, never. In sandals.
I have a brand new all black Grateful Dead. They do send me, it's a weird story.
The band sends me stuff sometimes. Anyway, I will say this.
I saw within a week, I saw Bob Dylan's and the Jerry Garcia band both sing Forever Young within seven days of each other at Madison Square Garden. Anyway, but my point was this.
What kind of music were you into? No, I was trying to get into, like, we're all into it. You love Zeppelin.
But was there one kind of music that you loved more than any other? Like, were you an indie guy? Were you a metal guy? First, I was a Beatles guy. And then I got that Rush record with the camel toe.
And I was afraid to fucking let anyone hear it or know that I was listening to. I hid it under my bed like it was a Playboy.
I hid it under the bed. And then I discovered punk rock music.
I went up to Chicago. I have these cousins that live in Evanston outside of Chicago.
And we would go up every year from Virginia. Well, I'm from Chicago.
I know I was. Oh, there you go.
So my cousin Tracy lived in Evanston right off the lake on this. You have a Tracy? I do.
Wait a second. Wait a minute.
You have a cousin named Tracy in Evanston? I did. Oh, no.
She's not dead. She's just in Florida now.
But anyway. Okay.
She's dead to you. Okay.
Anyway, so I went up there and she had turned into a punk rocker. Like one summer we show up and she's got like chains and boots and the jacket and the shaved head i was like i'd only seen that on like quincy and chips i'm like holy fucking shit this

is real oh my god wait a minute yes the problem child that needs to be rescued that night she

took me to the first time i ever saw a band was this punk rock band from chicago called naked

raygun and they're playing at this right they're playing at the cubby bear right across the street

from wiggly yes of course so she took i was like 13 she took me to the cubby bear and i'm like

Thank you. called Naked Raygun.
Yes, of course. Right, they were playing at the Cubby Bear right across the street from Wrigley Field.
Yes, of course. So she took, I was like 13, she took me to the Cubby Bear and I'm like, all I knew about rock and roll was like the lasers and the dragons and the castles and the fucking kiss and shit like that.
Yeah. So this was like this tiny, shitty little room with a tiny, shitty little stage and they had two tiny, shitty little lamps and there was a microphone and they started playing and the place fucking exploded and like spit and blood

and puke

and fucking guys

standing on my head

and I was like,

oh, this is rock and roll.

That's pretty wild.

So then I fucking dove head first

into that whole punk rock thing.

But the thing that I loved about it

is that all of these bands

were totally doing it themselves.

Like there was no record companies.

They had their own record companies

and made their own. So you like Fugazi, like that vibe? Like, Fugazi.
Yeah, like Fugazi. That whole scene.
Well, that's where I grew up in D.C. Right.
Like, those were our friends. The 930 Club? Yeah, the 930 Club.
Yeah. How much time did you spend in Chicago? We'd usually go for, like, a couple weeks and then we'd go back home.
Yeah. Did you ever go to Medusa's? Did not go to Medusa's.
It was like an ice cream shop or something. What is it? So is that where you used to get your pants tailored? Is that a vape thing? So speaking of pants, speaking of the camel toe and everything, once you got off the drum stool and you became lead man and you're up front, was there a pressure to work on the inseam at all? Like when you're up front, do you have to, what is the rock and roll sort of rule there? That you, can you wear baggy pants as a...
Wait, huh? We're talking about... Can you wear baggy pants as a singer? Or do you obligate to talk about MC Hammer this whole podcast? Is that what we're doing? MC Hammer and John Bonham, go.
Well, no, I mean, I didn't put that much thought into it. One of the reasons why, okay, so I go and I record that thing by myself.
Where were you? The first record. It was just because the first Foo Fighters, it was in Seattle.
There was a studio right down the street from my house, and I'm like, okay, I need to do something. Right.
Because I stopped playing music. I didn't want to become someone else's drummer.
And I was, you know, we were, our whole world was turned upside down. Then you went to Ireland and there's this great story about a hitchhiker there, if you want to share.
Yeah, so after Kurt died, everyone just kind of like retreated into our corners and we kind of hid from the world. And I decided to go on this like soul searching, find the most remote place on earth trip.
And I went to the Ring of Kerry in Scotland where I'd been before. And I decided I was just going to drive around and think for a while.
And I was driving down this country road and I saw a hitchhiker. And I thought, well, maybe I'll pick him up.
And as I got closer, I saw that he had a Kurt Cobain t-shirt on in the middle of nowhere and it was in that moment that I'm like okay I can't outrun this thing I need to like I need to play music that's wild and so then I went back and booked six days in this little studio and just recorded the 15 songs by myself thinking okay I'm just gonna make a cassette and hand it to some friends it career decision. It was like, okay, I'm just going to do this because I felt like I needed to do it.
But it made you go, good, I thought you were going to say, so I strangled the guy and I hit him in some bushes. Like, okay, good, you did not do that.
That did not happen. Okay, good, good.
Fuck no. I got the fuck out of there as fast as I could.
Man, that album is so great. All the ones that followed have been as well.

But that was kind of your,

like you realized that you had to kind of,

I love that idea,

like that headspace that you're in,

that you're like,

you're like,

okay, universe,

I hear you, motherfucker.

I'll go, I'll do it.

I'll jump back in.

Steer right into it.

Well, I mean,

if you think about it,

like your entire life,

listen,

in the darkest moments of your life,

you've probably turned to music

and listened to music

to help heal whatever you feel.

I'm going to go ahead and into it. Well, I mean, if you think about it, like your entire life, listen, in the darkest moments of your life, you've probably turned to music and listened to music to help heal whatever you feel.
100%. So I kind of went in that.
At first, I'd stopped listening to music, and then I'm like, no, wait, it's kind of healed me my whole life. Now I need to get back into it.
So I did. Right.
100%. I get that.
And then was it transitioning off of the drum set and going up front and finding Taylor and kind of handing that off? It's a drum kit, by the way. It's a drum kit.
Sorry, yeah. Was that a comfortable thing? Did you want to sing and play guitar and be up front? Or was it, what was that decision process? No, it was totally weird and foreign and I hated it.
But that's kind of why I did it because I didn't want to just go sit and play the drums some more because I kind of knew I could do that. But this was something I didn't know that I could do.
And you had some things you wanted to say, yeah, with writing lyrics and... My lyrics are fucking terrible.
I said absolutely nothing at all for the first 10 years. Like, oh, maybe the last record I actually said something meaningful.
Are you conscious of that when you're writing? I'm not agreeing with you, but are you, when you're writing lyrics, are you like, I'm not even gonna

try to do anything somewhat profound

here? You know, I remember spending so much time

on a lyric once, and our

bass player Nate said, dude,

not every song has to be imagined.

You know that, right? And so then I was

like, really?

A little bunch of fucking bullshit.

Right, right.

Can we go back? So who was the flautist, your dad or your mom? A little bunch of fucking bullshit. Right, right.
Wait, can we go back?

So who was the flautist, your dad or your mom?

Dad.

My dad.

Dad.

And did they encourage you to study music

and to learn music theory and things like that?

Or are you just by ear?

I just kind of went by ear.

There was this old guitar in the corner of our house.

And I was like around nine years old.

I picked it up and I was one string.

I'm like,

Thank you. ear my there was this old guitar in the corner uh of our house and like around nine nine years old i picked it up and i was one string i'm like bam bam bam bam bam bam bam i'm like oh shit this is easy yeah and then i just fucking i took like a few guitar lessons and i had this uh beatles song book and we play along with beatles stuff but drums i I would set up pillows in my bedroom on the floor and learn how to put on records and do it that way.
Does any part of you want to go learn, not that you have to because you're brilliant, but go back and kind of learn all of the, how to read music and the music theory of it and chord progressions and time signatures and all that kind of stuff? Oh God, that sounds like a lot of fun. No.
There is no part of me that wants to do that. Now that you've got a lot of money and time to do whatever you want, do you want to go and read some boring shit? Fuck that.
You know, I actually had a plan when I was young. I was like, okay, since I'll never become a professional musician, I should learn how to read music, and I'll become a studio drummer, and then I'll make enough money that I could put myself back through school and then get a real job.
Yeah, right. Right.
And then I was like, fuck that. Can I ask a dumb question? Can you read drum music? Do drums have notes? Yeah, they do, and they look like squiggly little lines.
I don't get it. They're Xs.
Where the notes are, they're just Xs. Huh.
Okay, Sean. learn how to play some drums right now.
Sean knows what he's talking about with this. Maybe you can teach me to play the drums as well.
Tap dancing, drumming. Yeah, if you've got some extra time.
Dave, he's trying to identify and he's working towards ask him, Sean, about musicals. Fucking ask him.
I do have another question, though, about genres of music. Have you seen Promises Promises? Have you seen Promises Promises? Is there a certain genre of music that you aren't drawn to? Like, you know, there's so many.
There's country, there's pop, there's rock, there's rap, there's just tons and tons. Is there something that you're like, eh, that's not for me? I'm not the biggest country fan.
I have to be honest. There are certain things that I kind of like and there are certain artists that I respect and think are really great.
Maybe you and I can get together and watch a Ken Burns documentary on country and get to know it. Should we do that? Should we go? I mean, I went to, like I did this HBO series called Sonic Highways and I went to Nashville and did a whole episode on Nashville and it was really interesting and of course like Nashville's that's the town with the best musicians that's the place where you walk down the street look in someone's window and they're playing like a dulcimer or something like that like that that place is filled with the most brilliant musicians I don't know why it's just I've just never clicked with the country Tell me how you like or not like the, uh, being sort of the front man, the leader, the dad in the band.
Um, well, but I mean, you know, he put it together and he's the boss. And how do you like managing the inevitable ups and downs of traveling and living together and probably spending more time with one another than you do your actual family? Hang on, before you answer it, sorry, Jason, I just want to cut you off and just say, or the mom, just to cut off all, you know, to head off the letters we're going to get.
He needs to be mom, too. You know, there's mom.
You're such a dummy. Wow, Will's policing this whole thing? Yeah, that's a bad sign.
That's not cool. Yeah, that's like me being the front person of a band.
I know, I know. Bad, bad idea.
But are you good at smoothing out conflict

and doing all the administrative stuff

that one needs to do in a band

or not? Well, we've been a band for

26 years. That's crazy.

Which is totally crazy. It's 26

years. And I think that

eventually you

come up with some

sort of system that

works. And I always liken it to

wheels and a clock. There's the big

wheel that rolls slow. There's the little wheel that kind of does this.
And when the gears meet, like, it keeps ticking. And so, you know, I like to be in a band, right? Right.
I like it when everybody is there for the same reason and everyone's contributing and it's really awesome. Do I have to make sort of weird decisions, tough decisions sometimes? Yes, but I refer to different members for certain things.
If I have any sort of ethical dilemma or crisis, I turn to Nate and Pat and I'm like, what should we do? They're like the barometer. If we need to have a stadium rock ending to a song, I turn to Taylor, and I'm like, Taylor, what would Queen do? What about t-shirt designs? Who's got a t-shirt? Never me.
Absolutely not. Never, never, never me.
Really? No. Who's got the taste on the graphic art? It's probably Nate and Chris.
And you know what, to be honest, I don't fucking care. So I just kind of back out and go like, yeah, whatever you guys want to do, I don't fucking care.
You don't care, for real? When it comes to album covers and shit, yes. We haven't done a coffee cup for a while or what about a good key fob? Yeah, that's an email that I swipe and delete.
By the way, those are Bateman's best ideas. Coffee cup and a fucking key fob.
God, I've designed the greatest key fob for our tour. I mean, look at the, he's aesthetically inclined.
Just take a look. Guys, this looks like just a generic hoodie.
It's $6,000. By the way, we should mention, this is a great time to mention because we've never mentioned it except for when we, we do have a hoodie, we have a website.
I just thought about that this week. We have a website.
Oh, you have merch. And we have merch and we've never talked about it.
Cool, go to foofighters.com.

Foo Fighters.com.

Yeah, it's weird

that we're selling our stuff

at foofighters.com.

Dave, when you were growing up,

it's clear that you kind of,

you know, took influence

from your dad

and the music side

and a lot of kids

either go one way or the other, right?

You go,

oh, I want to do

what my parents do

or I want to run

from what my parents did.

What about your kids? Is anybody kind of... Or in your case, your parents just run.
Sorry. Not your dad, but keep going, Sean.
Sorry. And I stayed put and got fat.
But anyway, what about your kids? Do they want to do what dad does, or do they want to run? Well, my daughter, Violet, who's 15, she is the most talented musician that this family has ever known. Like she has perfect pitch and she has like an incredible memory, musical memory.
She could pick up an instrument and learn it in like a week. She's a total badass.
Does she think you're a badass or is she thinking, he's dad, he sucks. He's a dad-ass.
No, I think she, you know, she, it's because she's grown up, like, you know, I've been carrying her backstage since she was, you know. So she's seen this whole thing, like, from the ground up.
She gets that you're good, that you're not just screwing around. Well, she gets that I work really hard at trying to make good records and stuff like that.
And that's a big part of it. How does she handle all the travel? I mean, she doesn't know any different, hopefully.
Like my kids, they just kind of deal with it, and I don't see any problems yet. But how does the family deal with you being gone all the time? Well, you know, she's actually one of our backup singers now.
Oh, great. So she comes on the road, and we share a room.
She's like on that side of the suite. How old is she? I'm on this 15 and a half.
On this side I wake up in the morning and I like order room service and I'm like, it's time to get up. And then we like have some breakfast and then we roll our bags down to the thing and we go to the thing.
100,000 people. That's so sweet.
And then we get a pizza and then we watch a horror movie and it's actually really awesome. And then my Harper she came up to me when she was like nine or something like that she's like dad I want to learn how to play the drums and I'm like drums like that's some fucking mailroom position shit really like straight to the drums usually you get demoted and so I was like okay so I started showing her how to play the drums and she has like an internal meter where she's got really good time and she understands how that shit works and i sat her down and gave her an acdc record and she was like she has feel like she's really got it she did it for like three months and was just like fuck that by the way that was really good already did you show her the videos of nandy.
Well, you know what? They're actually my daughters. I wrote a song for Nandy, and my three daughters were the backup singers for the song that I wrote for Nandy.
Oh, that was that girl, that English girl that you got into the thing with? That was so rad. That was so, so rad.
I have a question about what you just did because that was kind of mind-blowing, what you just, like Will just said. That was crazy.
The thing about drummers is that, is like this internal thing. you learn how to i mean it's you keeping the rhythm for the whole song for the whole show

all the time every song and how do you learn how to do that you know i'll tell you when i was a kid

like when we would my grandparents lived in ohio and we would drive from springfield up to

youngstown ohio and when you pass through pennsylvania you're going through all of those

tunnels through the mountains and stuff so you have a radio station on and there's a song

I'm not sure. Springfield up to Youngstown, Ohio.
And when you pass through Pennsylvania, you're going through all of those tunnels through the mountains and stuff. So you have a radio station on and there's a song.
It's like... And then you go into the tunnel and it's gone and you try to keep time with it.
So when you come out, it's like... So I would do this game in the fucking tunnels to see if I could actually keep the meter going like that.
And so I did that my whole entire life. But all joking aside, and the tap dancing, I know you were joking about that.
That's no joke. You have to be, you have to be a good dancer because not that you've tried maybe or I don't know, because it's your whole body is rhythm.
Yeah, but that's kind of the last thing you want to see from anyone on a dance floor. Because I'm either going to do the fucking robot or I look like a deadhead like Will.

Or it's not.

I'm not a deadhead. I don't know.

But how is the rhythm, the internal rhythm, the clock that you have,

how is it shown up in other parts of life?

I can play drums with my teeth.

You can?

What does that look like? Let me see if I can play drums with my teeth you can what does that look like let me see if I can I can do this I can do this with my mouth and my nose my breath I can go oh I heard that that was cool it was a little bossa nova wait do you do blow do I do blow no Oh, I heard that. That was cool.
I was like... It was a little bossa nova.
Yeah. Wait, do you do blow? Do I do blow? No, I don't.
She's still up. Because that would become a heavy.
You really should dry it, though. Yeah, it's real fun, Dave.
Sorry, that's a sin aside. So, hey, Sean, did you do that because you wanted to try to figure out how to smell your own breath? Do any of you guys know how to smell your own breath? I'm sorry, what's the question, idiot? Sorry, I want to double back on the camel toe question for Dave, and then I want to get to breath smelling.
I'm kidding. Guys, I'm the best host of the year.
What about these questions? What about these questions? I had a joke that I was going to make that even I wouldn't make, so I didn't make it. Do it, we can cut it, go.
No, I'm not going to do it. Really? You can do it.
No. I actually have a line.
All right. Okay.
Hey, Dave, what about directing? Why? Do you have a passion for that or is it just like, ah, fuck it, I'm tired of listening to these guys direct our videos. I'll tell where to point the camera and stuff like that.
Or do you have a passion for that? Well, most of the videos that we've done have come from crazy dreams that I've had. And we would look through all the treatments people would send us.
And I'd be like, man, that doesn't really matter. And then I would write a treatment.
And someone would say, do you want to direct it? And I'd say, I have no idea how to do that. And then I would do it.
And so I've done it a bunch of times. And then the documentary stuff, that stuff just kind of fell into my lap.
And that's really fun. I really enjoy doing that.
Who are the musicians now, and all jokes, aside from going like, you know, like Elvis Presley, like, who are the people you would like to, who are still making music or have been making music in the last 25 years, current recording artists that you're like, or that you would like to make a record with, or you think is fucking cool, or doing something that's cool. And I don't mean like, I want to do a Justin Bieber.
Like, forget the mainstream and I don't want to hear the ironic answer. Tell me the real answer, not like the thing that you think will, you know what I mean? Yeah.
No, I know, I've met a lot of really amazing musicians. I'm sure.
Everybody, you've met everybody. Like Steve Malkmus, like somebody like that.
Like he's one of the heroes. I'm more like Omar Hakim and Niall Rogers and Greg Kirsten and just assemble like a real badass group of people to go in the studio for one week and then just like bang some stuff out and see what happens.
That's really fun. Because when you meet musicians that you've never really played with before, you meet someone and you try to carry a conversation and you try to make friends this way.
But when you put on instruments as musicians, those conversations can be more fun and deeper when there's no language. You're just playing the music together.
That's really awesome. Because then you find out what type of person they are by the way that they play their instruments.
So that's why I love jamming with so many different people. Is that it's like, you know, once you sit down and start doing it, you're like, oh, that's who you are.
Oh, okay, cool. I tried to make a conversation with Dave once during some of my, before I lost my privileges.
This is when I was really thirsty, during my peak drinking. Sure.
I was over at, I think it was Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills. How psyched was he when you showed up? Well, hold on.
Yeah, he let me know. I was deep into my third scorpion bowl, and there's Dave Grohl sitting in a booth.
And I had just learned that we share the same birthday and year. And I just thought he would be thrilled to learn this too.
I am. I have been.
No, no. Remember the time we had the birthday show at the forum? I was so excited for us to share an arena concert celebrating our birthdays.
But this was my first, this is my passion for you was running white hot. I'd never met you before.
And there he is. And I just learned we share the same birthday.
So that's no wonder why I think this guy is so amazing. So I slide into the booth next to him and I just give him the eyebrows.
And I say, hey, guess who's got the same birthday as me? Same year. Just smiling at him, waiting for like a fucking what? And he looked at me.
This is all my drunk memory. I'm sure he was very, very nice.
But I just remember just whatever the physical facial equivalent of crickets is, I got it. Now, that's pretty spot on.
That's pretty spot on what you're describing right now. It was, right? Yeah, pretty much.
I can just see Jason. So fucking what, Jason Bateman? I'm here, right? How crazy is this? We'll be right back.
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All right, back to the show. Are you always someone who kind of, because you seem, you have so much energy, you're super funny,

you're always writing, you're always making, you're creating something. Are you that kind of personality that just goes, goes, goes all the time? And if so, how do you relax? How do you calm down? What calms your brain down? Or no, you're just- White claw.
White claw. No, yes, I'm a total spaz.
That's the short answer. What do I do to relax?

Is there anything that calms you down?

I don't know.

I don't have any hobbies.

I don't know.

Do you work out or do you go to the house?

No, you don't work out.

Come work out with me, Dave.

Come over to the house.

No.

Yeah.

But Dave, are you a spaz all day or are you like me?

Yes.

Because we are the same age.

Do you crash?

Yeah, at like four o'clock.

Is it a testosterone thing? You might want to get your thyroid checked. Are you napping at all now, Dad? I'm a bad napper.
No, not a good napper. No, not good.
No, I pretty much spaz all day. It kind of ramps up around, what time is it? 10, 11 o'clock in the morning.
Yeah, peak. Peak spaz, and then it kind of dips a little bit.
Let me ask you guys. And then the white clock.
A really dark, weak stream is a good sign, right? Yes. Especially if it smells like maple syrup.
I think that's what you're referring to, right? Just checking. I'm healthy.
Ah, Dave. Dark and weak.
Dark, weak, but I do want to know, though. Like, is it like, are you a baseball? Do you watch baseball or do you anything like that? No, I don't watch sports.
No. Okay, you don't watch sports.
No. The closest thing I had to sports was I was on a skeet shooting league for a while.
That's pretty. It's pretty fun.
That's pretty dope as hell. That's my sport.
With skeeter. Like Skeeter.
How often are you playing music?

Is it every day in some capacity?

You're picking up and just kind of like noodling around on the guitar,

looking for a rhythm that might become a song?

That happens kind of every day.

What do you listen to in the car?

Do you have a radio?

Do you listen to radio at all?

I do.

I listen to old school.

First of all, just the fact that I'm on a computer right now with a thing that's connected to this other thing, is a fucking miracle. I'm the most AM radio analog dude.
I drive around in the car. I listen to KLOS or whatever.
You do. And I hear Foghat again, and I still like it.
Or, you know, I'm also a YouTuber.

So I'll wind up watching videos

of songs

like I just,

the other day,

remember that

They Might Be

giant song?

Put a little birdhouse

in your soul?

Yes,

it's one of my favorite groups.

Well,

I hadn't listened to them

in like 30 years.

And in the last 12 hours,

I've listened to that song

like 1,200 times.

It's the best.

I love all of them. It's amazing.
Like I'm even watching like covers that people have done of, yeah, whatever. What about this sort of this move away from, it's happening over the last 10 years, probably 15 years, away from real drums, real guitar, real everything and it's becoming much more sort of electronic and you can kind of make a whole whole album on a computer.
What in the last 10 years? Have you ever heard Soft Cell? Yeah, that's... Come on, man.
No, but you know what I mean, like... What is it, 2011 right now? What are we talking about? What? But, like, there's no more, like, amps and...
There are. Like, remember the last time, I mean, there are moments where you see it sort of poking its head into mainstream music.
First of all, it's not, you know, it's not like a meteor crash dinosaur extinction level event. It's like guitars and drums.
Thanks to you guys and a couple of other bands, you guys are keeping that thing going strong. But, you know, like the days, like the new band used to be, you know, like White Stripes or something that's just like hardcore.
But now it's like anything that's super techno, electronic, odd. You try to find a rhythm and you can't is some of the new sort of...
I mean, it's also very cyclical. Something will be really, really popular for a while.
And then that becomes like like, oh wow, they're using guitars and drums. Like if you look at I mean, first of all, Miley Cyrus is like becoming the next Joan Jett as we speak.
Like this is really happening. Yeah, I mean, she goes out and she's like a rock star, you know? Or like when Lady Gaga played on the Grammys a few years ago, like instead of doing her huge production she was production, it was almost like she was Ziggy Stardust.
She was singing with the band behind her. Hey, Dave, let me ask you, what's your favorite beat of all time that always gets you? There's a song that comes on and you go like, fuck, I just love that.
You know what it is? It's that reggaeton beat that's like... Is there a song that what is that there's 10,000 songs that do that like that like Justin's got one and Selena's got one I was just thinking like I love that you remember that like Stone Rose's Fool's Gold love yeah it's a Manhattan beat well you know you know, this is the thing.
Sometimes...

Dave, did I get that right?

I don't fucking know what any of you guys are talking about.

You mean just turn it all the way down, Dave?

Sometimes when a beat will define a whole genre of music,

and this is dangerous, I think,

because then all of a sudden your band

or your type of music you're playing

is restricted to this one thing,

and it happens something.

Like trap music.

When all of a sudden, when it was like...

Thank you. your band or your type of music you're playing is restricted to this one thing.
And it happens, like trap music. When all of a sudden, when it was like, and you're going like, hit it, shove it, shove it, shove it, shove it, shove it, shove it, shove it, shove it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, that was like three years ago or whatever.
It's gone, right. It's gone.
It's gone. Because it was the same fucking beat in every fucking song.
But Will, I know what you're talking about. That song, that Stone Rose's song, everybody emulated that beat for like several years after that.
Right after that. That was like 1989 and it was just like, boom.
All those bands out of Manchester specifically, but it was like so good and God, I love that band. It was good.
Dave, true that you broke your leg, went backstage, got a cast on it, came back out, finished the concert,

then had a throne built to continue the tour.

Is that correct?

True.

All of it true.

All of it true.

Well, sort of. I fell off the stage and I dislocated my ankle and broke my leg.

And then I felt no pain.

So I was like, I'm going to go fix this.

I'll be right back.

And I looked at the band and was like, just play a Queen song. Just go, go, go, go.
And they pulled me off to the side of the stage. And the guy, it was in Sweden.
He takes off my high top. And he's like, your ankle's dislocated.
Must put it back in right now. And so I'm like, oh my God.
So I got this huge cup of Crown Royal. And then he puts it back in.
And he's holding it there. And I'm like, okay, so can I go sit down and finish the show he's like well we have to put a cast on it and i was like where's okay do you have one he's like no we gotta go to the hospital i said how far away is that he's like half an hour i'm like fuck that you go get the cast and i'll go sit down and he goes well if i let go of your ankle it's just gonna fall out and then i was like well then you're coming on stage motherfucker and this guy was like, okay.
And he goes, well, if I let go of your ankle, it's just going to fall out. And then I was like, well, then you're coming on stage, motherfucker.
And this guy was like, okay. And they put this ace bandage around it.
And he came out with you? And held my foot. It was like, now, again, I'm making decisions.
And so he sat there and held it. As we played, it was a stadium, and we kept playing.
Still no pain? Wow. No pain.
And then the throne, and then you had a chair developed to continue the tour later gave that throne to axel rose true or false true axel had to use it oh you want to know what's crazy okay so then axel used it for guns and roses because he broke his foot and then he was also singing with acdc at the time so then then it goes on tour with acdc for a little bit and then i'm the guy that people call hey, I broke my fucking ankle. Can I borrow the throne? I was like, yeah, okay.
So I started sending it out to different people. But recently, like about a month ago, there was this dude in a metal band who stopped an active shooter at his show, at his own show.
He saw this guy that was acting sketchy. And so he confronted him and the guy shot this dude in the band in the leg.
And then they found his car was full of ammunition, blah, blah, blah, blah. What? And so he and his friends started this online campaign like, Dave, you should give him the throne.
And I gave him the throne for him to play in his metal band, which was pretty rad. So listen, if any of you guys ever need a throne, I know you've got your Spidey chair, Will, but this thing has like lasers and a smoke machine on it.
That would be, that's pretty rad. That's pretty rad.
Dave, I imagine you got some real quality house time with the wife and the girls during COVID. But now, are you back on tour? Are you back on the road? Are you thinking about it? We are.
We're doing some shows here and there. We're playing.
Well, we've been out. We went out for the last two and a half, three months and played all through the Midwest and did Lollapalooza and reopened Madison Square Garden.

Oh, that's right. We've got some more shows coming up.
And then we'll like quiet down for a little bit and then do it all again. Sean, isn't there like a vocal exercise or like a sentence? Not like quick ground fox jump.
What is the thing you say before you do a performance? Yeah, let's hear it, Sean. I'll do a...
You're welcome.

Wow.

You could do that.

You know what I did before a show?

Yeah, go ahead.

What did you do?

Three Advil, two Coors Lights,

and two shots of ground low.

There it is.

Is that true? 26 years.

26 years. Right there.
Is that true? It's absolutely true. You don't smoke butts though, right? You don't smoke butts.
In a pinch. I do.
You do? I do. I do all the things I'm not supposed to do.
You're a rock star, goddammit. It's not even that.
I'm just a fuck up and I'm too lazy to do the thing Sean did before a show. You're not a fuck up.
I'm terrified someone will hear me doing that. But here is the deal, and I don't want to embarrass you.
You have been an incredibly relevant figure in rock and roll for a long, long time. You've made all these records.
You have a family. You are getting up early.
You're going to bed early. You're still doing all the rock star things, but you're managing to juggle the other side as well.
My hat is off to you, my friend. Jason is really impressed with how early you get up.
He's just like, that's the mark of somebody who's serious. You can't fake that.
Shut the fuck up. We're not going to fit in your fucking box, Bateman.
Of what you've drawn up, what you think should be,

because you don't even

do it yourself.

Shut the fuck up!

I've had enough of it!

Dave, Dave,

you and I are rock stars, man,

and we're doing it differently

than everybody else.

Said from a spidey chair.

It doesn't matter.

You're a fucking rad dude,

and come on over to the house.

We're going to lift,

and I'm going to get you

into sports.

Oh, God.

Sean's going to tap dance with you, and he's going to get you into Promises and Promise. And Bateman, you can go and F yourself.
And that's our show. And with that, sweet, sweet Dave Grohl, thank you for joining us.
I'll see you at Trader Vic. So cool to meet you, Dave.
You're a treasure. What a pleasure to meet you.
Thanks, fellas. We'll see you around.
Okay. See you, man.
Bye. Bye.
Bye, buddy. That Dave Grohl.
Jason, what a great guest. Look, I fanned out about the Nirvana thing because I grew up listening to him.
Me too. I tried very hard not to ask any Nirvana questions.
He doesn't want to talk about Nirvana. Why not? Because that's all he's ever talked about.
Everybody always wants to ask about Nirvana. It's like this guy.
I know. Because It's one of the most iconic bands of all time.
That's not fair.

He's done 14,000 albums

with the Foo Fighters. But that's like somebody saying

you can't ask you and that was our question or our

development question. Well, but did we hammer

Paul McCartney about the Beatles? No.

We should have. We should.
We should have.

We did. We talked a little bit about him being from

Liverpool and we bring up

Teen Wolf 2 all the time

with you. We cannot talk about that.
I do enjoy talking about that. Because as you point out, it's Teen Wolf also.
Yeah, teed up low. It was not a sequel.
He's great. Super guy, super funny.
And he's got a brand new book out. I should have asked him.
It's called The Storyteller. Is it called The Storyteller? It's called The Storyteller.
It's your favorite term, Will. It's tough.
I'm gonna have to It's tough. Yeah.
But I do love Dave and by the way if you're actually writing a book and you call it the storyteller that's okay. So do you guys get the same sort of vibe from him that you do from me because we share the same exact day? I mean, do you believe in all that? Like astrology and like people born on the same day are kind of the same people.
Do you think rock star when you look at me, when you talk to me? First of all, I don't think that that's true. I think that if you were born at the same minute, maybe at the same place.
Well, maybe we were. I didn't really go that micro with it.
Well, why wouldn't you? I like when he said the parts of the band he associated with a clock where like the gear, like the big slower, the little one moves faster, and they all come together. Will, how would you describe us three as the internal parts of a clock? First of all, I didn't know that we were going around doing like, I like when he said, oh, okay.
And I like when he said, oh, no, I just remembered it. I remembered it.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I like that analogy, too.
I thought that was really, really cool. Would you call me the big cock? No, there's an L.
Clock. Clock? Big cock.
Big cock. Oh, big cock.
Yeah. But you were very, you were real slurry on the G.
I was trying to slur the G just to get a joke. I'm on the big cock.
I like the analogy of, I like the analogy if we were all board games. I would say, I would say Jason's chess,

Will, you're checkers,

and I'm probably

shoots and layers.

You think so?

Oh, I thought you were

going to say sorry.

Or I'm sorry, yeah.

Why, first of all,

why am I checkers?

Yeah, because I'm chess.

Yeah.

Because you're right in that.

He's just calling it

like he sees it, Will.

You know?

What are you talking about?

Have you talked to Bateman?

Because you travel a lot.

You can travel with checkers

a little bit easier.

Oh, yeah, you guys have traveled.

I want to talk about that,

by the way.

Go ahead.

How come?

Thank you. Have you talked to Bateman? Because you travel a lot.
You can travel with checkers a little bit easier. Oh, yeah.
You guys have traveled. I want to talk about that, by the way.
Go ahead. We've never taken a trip.
We're going to. Just the two of us.
No, just the two of us. You, me, Sean, or you, me, Will.
We're going to do a threesome coming up in February. Get your tickies.
Get your tickies. And I mentioned the merch because I did.
We each got one of those smartless hoodies when we first were coming up with it and the people who made them you're not going to wear that are you you can't wear your own stuff well this is where I'm getting to so they sent it to the three of us to say like hey what do you think right and we all got one and before they went on sale on the website and so I still have mine and it's hanging in the closet and day, I had it on. And sometimes I wear it around the house because it's actually very nice.
And this is not me trying to say, they're really comfy. You should get it.
Yeah, super comfy. I actually just put it on.
And I said to the kids, I was like, I can't wear this outside of the house ever because I'm like, hey, look, hey, there's the guy wearing his own face. Yeah.
And did Archie and Abel say, you can't wear it here either. Get it off.
No, they didn't. But let me ask you something.
Jason, you must have Ozark swag. Do you wear it? And do you wear it outside of the house? I give a lot of it away.
I've got two hats that I still keep in my closet for some weird reason. Like, I'm going to wear them one day, which I can't.
I can't go out with it. You're one of the, Jason, are you one of those, like, you wear, like, a Panavision hat? Like, hey, just ask me if I'm a director.
A Stunts Unlimited hat. Just begging for someone to ask.
Go ahead, just please ask me. Hey, what kind of mat do you use? Something like that.
Well, that's how I felt about the segues. We talked about the segues before.
Jason remembers, Sean, when I was on Arrested Development, which was a show Jason and I were on, which, again, you gotta see. The comedy hat.
Yeah, because, because you like comedy. And my character used to ride one of those segues, those personal people, single, whatever, people movers.
What's that called? Something like that, something dumb. And I drove that thing around.
It's really fun to, they were fun to ride. I could never ride it from that moment on because I'd be like, hey, hey, guy, are you riding your prop around? It's so funny.
You know, you're going to think I'm a nerd, but like, I actually did like sweater vests before my character, Jack McFarlane. Now I can never wear a sweater vest.
Yeah, you can never wear it. Nope.
Yeah. And now Jason can never wear khakis with the sleeves rolled up on his shirt.
Oh, wait, he does it all the time. That's our show.
Bye! Bye! Really? Oh, yeah, sorry. Wait, was that a real buy or no? No, I don't think it counts.
By the way, I took a little heat the other day. I was talking to some friends and they're like, hey, are you serious with the buys at the end of every episode? What do you mean, are you serious? Like, they're like saying, because remember, the only reason we're doing it is because it's the most obnoxious, annoying thing.
Absolutely. It's a joke.
But I think we're past the joke now, and now it's just awful. What do you think about that? Wait, wait, who, by the way, it depends on who said it.
Who asked that? Somebody who's not prone to cynicism at all. It's actually somebody I was working with, like a sound crew, like engineers at a post-production session.
When you were doing a session for Hyundai? No. Different brand.
Which, by the way, is a fantastic car. Oh, God.
If you like safety and if you like economy and handsome lines. Anyway, so should we change that at all? No.
Well, we've run out of all the puns. How about like a see ya? Why don't we move on to see ya? Hang on, hang on, hang on I'm not taking fucking notes from people I don't give a shit what they think I hate when people go You know So I'll tell you this This is my last point I was in Toronto And I was with our friend Shani this week from Toronto.
Brendan Shanahan, Tracy. Brendan Shanahan from the Leafs game for Tracy.
Love him. Who's the president of the Leafs.
Love him. And he calls— Nice home opener win.
Did you go to the home opener? I was at the home opener with my dad. I'm sure you were.
Yep. Nice big win.
And I was with my dad and a couple buddies, and was there with Shani. We had a nice little dinner before, and then we were at the thing.
Pushing through. Pushing through.
And so anyway, so we were watching the thing, and I said, you know, that Shani often, after one of our podcast episodes comes out, he'll call me or text me, and he'll be like, that was pretty good. You know what? I thought when Bateman said that was good, and I liked it when Sean, like, he'll do it, like, every week.
We'll talk on the phone. He'll have notes.
So I realized we were watching the end of the Leafs game, and his brother was there and a couple other people. I go, you know, I turned to Shannon, I go, you know what, man? I go, you call me after the podcast, and you give me notes on the show.
So guess what? After tonight's game, I got some notes, dude. The third line needs some work.
I got some notes. And did you give them? Yeah, I sure did.
Did he take them? Has he implemented them yet? Well, it's all about puck possession, right? And I think, Sean, you'd agree. Yeah, I know.
Puck possession, for sure. Yeah.
You could just jockey for a better puck position. Yeah, and forecheck.
Possession. Possession.
Sure. That's what I said.
Oh, you did. Sorry, I misheard.
Hey, Sean, a serious question. If you were to spell forecheck, would you spell it F-O-U-R or F-O-R-E?

First of all, I don't know what that is.

That's why I'm asking you.

On a gentleman from Prague and he's not cut, he's got a forecheck.

Is that what you're saying?

Now I've got to say bye.

Bye.

Bye. Bye.

Smart.

Nice.

Smart. Less.
Smart.

Less.

Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjarf, and Bennett Barbaco.

Smart. Less.
Hey friends, Jason here. We're so excited the Smart Less has officially joined the SiriusXM family.
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